Unconfirmed shark sighting at Turners Beach

by cmorton

Clair Morton
Journalist
Although I’ve moved around a bit, I’m a Queensland girl at heart with a love of the ocean and the mighty maroons. Since moving to Grafton earlier this year I have fallen in love with the Valley lifestyle. The best part of my job here is getting to know the locals and putting their stories on paper; there is always something going on and so many people with interesting tales to tell.

TURNERS Beach was closed for about 20 minutes yesterday following a shark sighting in chest-deep water.

A swimmer said he was body surfing in choppy water at the Yamba beach just after 4.30pm when what appeared to be a 1.5m shark darted towards him.

"It was in between waves, and it just swam straight towards me and then darted off really fast," he said

"Then I turned and saw a thick school of fish in the water next to me."

Clarence Valley lifeguard supervisor Greg Wyllie said the report, and another one from someone who was on the rocks at the time, remained unconfirmed but lifeguards took appropriate precautions and pulled everyone out of the water until the end of patrol hours.

"When I went out to the headland I didn't see anything but if it was a shark it seemed to avoid him," he said.

"For every shark you see, nine sharks see you."

Mr Wyllie said that this season was so far one of the best he has had in nine years as a supervisor.

"We haven't required an ambulance during patrol hours yet, which is commendable to sensible behaviour," he said.

"Crowd attendance at Yamba has been unbelievable; we've definitely got population growth going on in this town."